


She Speaks

by Cherith



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-05
Updated: 2010-01-05
Packaged: 2017-10-05 20:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherith/pseuds/Cherith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River and Captain Reynolds have a talk about Serenity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Speaks

"She's crying."

"River, now what are you on about?" Almost as if to answer his question, the ship lets out a series of bangs and whirrs from the engine room. The ship is less than a day from Persephone; he knows they cannot afford a breakdown now.

"Kaylee?" Coming from Captain Mal Reynolds that question is more of a command than a question. He's worried about his cargo, he knows it's fine since he just came from checking on it, but he can't help but get nervous so close to delivery times. River smiles somewhat knowingly at the Captain.

"She's having a bad day. So she's crying." River continues to smile at Mal which only intensifies his confusion, which shows at his furrowed brows and creased forehead. She knows that he may not understand what she is trying to tell him, but she persists.

"Can't you feel her?" River places her hand against the metal of the wall next to her. She leans against the weight of her arm towards the wall and closes her eyes. "She talks to me, especially on bad days." River leans against the wall with almost her full weight, and turns her head towards Mal, leaving an ear to the wall.

Mal watches River as she draws close to the wall. He swears to himself that that girl looks like she's trying the comfort the wall. He knows her odd behavior is more insightful some days than he can ever imagine, and he thinks this might be one of those days. Yet, watching her against the wall, listening to it all the while still smiling that way at him, he's just not sure how to respond. He waits for a moment, checks behind him to see if Kaylee's coming from the engine room behind him, and then places his hands on the same corridor wall as River.

She opens her eyes when she hears the small sound of his hands on the wall. She grins at him, bright and shining. "You feel her now? She talks to us, if we listen. Kaylee knows." River nods her head at the Captain, trying to emphasize by looking to the engine room. Her voice is little more than a whisper now, and she takes a small step towards Mal.

Mal can feel the subtle vibrations of the ship beneath his hands. He realizes after a few moments, that's River is right, something just feels off about her. Poor Serenity doesn't sound like herself. "She feels off." Mal looks to River for some kind of explanation, however unsure he is that he wants the answer. This girl sure is an odd one. She ain't good with the mechanical like Kaylee is, or at least not that she's shown anyone, but she's bright as can be all on her own. He's amazed at her ability to detect the smallest changes. "Did you feel the vibrations change? Is that how you gathered something's wrong?" He guesses that big brain of hers is some how able to pick up on things like that. Subtle changes people like him, thinking about other things, just ain't attuned to.

"Sometimes, the Gravity helps." It's not the answer he wants, but it's all she can offer. She takes the last step separating him from her and moves her hands to cover his. She's so close she can see her dark hair settling on his arm as she tries to move just a bit closer. At this angle is difficult she knows to get as close to him, as she needs to be to show him. She calculates how better to reach him, but figures now is not the time for a speech on angles and geometry. Instead she relaxes as best she can nearer to him, fitting her smaller hands over his as best as can be. He doesn't pull back, and she's only a little surprised. But, then she's always known that he's the strong one, and the best to teach.

 

"River?" He's cautious. He doesn't pull back, because she seems so lucid. Any quick changes always take her down a path for the worse, and he admits to himself that he'd like to see whatever she's trying to show him. He wonders at himself, and feels a bit saddened. This is supposed to be his ship, his girl. And he's not the one that knows when something's going wrong. He looks around the corridor as the fleeting thought comes to him as to what this might look like if someone were to come down this way. He brushes those thoughts aside, thinking it's more important to know what River does about his ship.

"No one's near." She watches him, and waits. He needs, no wants to know what is going on, and she can tell him. He's worried that some one might come down this way, maybe Simon. But she knows her brother is still in the medical bay, and most everyone else is settling in for the night. The crew is making a delivery in the morning, and she knows most of them always like to get rested the night before. "It's getting quieter." She can feel the some what unsteady vibrations of the ship through Mal's hands, and that it is changing rhythms again. It draws her attention away from the other people on the ship and back to Mal and Serenity. "She'll be okay," she tells him nodding at the wall, "it's changing already."

"Changing? What's changing?" His attention is pulled back from his worry, to the hum of the ship, the feel of soft skin and River's voice. "The ship is changing?"

"Quiet."

And then he feels it. The soft rhythm of the ships vibrations picking up tempo. It's steadier now, faster and steady. Almost calm he thinks, as if it was just a minor hitch.

"All fixed Capt'n." Kaylee's cheerful voice reverberates around him as it echoes from the speaker somewhere over head. She wouldn't have known that he didn't make it too far from the hold.

River takes her hands down, back to her sides, and glances down at the grated floor. "All's quiet now." She takes a step back from him, seeing her hair detach from his sleeves as it flows back around her. She realizes it's nearly time for everyone to be asleep. Everyone but her, she won't sleep. She will stop and talk to Simon before he sleeps, and then she'll walk through Serenity. They will talk.

Mal clears his throat as River steps away from him. "Yes, I suppose it would get quieter now. It's bedtime for most folks. You should think about sleeping too, busy day tomorrow." He takes his hands off the wall, feeling just a mite bit silly for leaving them up there as long as he has and thinking he can still feel River's hands on his. He brushes his palms on his pants, not sure what he's trying to wipe off. He's relieved it was a quick fix for Kaylee to make; he aims for him and Zoe to arrive to the delivery site ahead of schedule in the morning. A delay this close to the planet could take bad turns if they get stuck floating. He turns to head back to the engine room, to find out exactly what went wrong, but pauses. He looks back at River.

"Thanks, girl." He smiles at her, and she thinks how funny it might be to tell him what it means. She reasons with herself that he's not ready to know. Instead, she leans her head back, and grins back at him. He's making progress, and she'll have to help him again she knows. Besides, there's one other thing he should know first.

"She loves you too, you know."

Mal stands there, frozen in place trying to comprehend. It probably can't be done, the comprehending, but he'll give it a try anyhow. He watches River give him another shiny grin before she turns to walk down the hall away from him, maybe heading towards her brother. She stops at the corner of the corridor and starts to whisper as if maybe no longer even realizing he's there. She whispers to the wall as if picking up some conversation where she'd left it. It surprises him when she laughs; almost wondering what's so funny. He shakes his head at her as she carries on around the corner, trailing her hand against the wall.

He waits until she's out of sight before turning back towards the engine room again. He laughs as he looks at the wall, "Well, I love her too," he whispers. He grazes his hand against the wall, and smiles as he makes his way back to the engine room.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [@mattparmeter](http://www.twitter.com/mattparmeter) for reading this for me, and making sure all the sciencey stuff sounded right.


End file.
